5. Parables are Similitudes taken from things that may have been done, or that are supposed to have been done, and so the thing to which the comparison is made, or from whence the Similitude is taken, need not always be a thing that hath been performed in all the circumstances and manner thereof; it is sufficient that the thing was possible, or rationally probable to have been acted, or at least supposed so to have been. As for instance in that Parable, where our Saviour saith: _That those that hear his words and do them are like a wise man that built his house upon a rock; and he that heareth them, and doth them not, is like a foolish man, that built his house upon the sand_: now it is not necessary that there should be two such men, that in matter of fact did after that manner (though there might have been many men before the time of our Saviour that might have done so) but it was sufficient that the thing from which the comparison was made, was possible, rational and probable. But the thing intended by the Parable or Similitude, is alwayes a spiritual truth and certainty. Concerning which learned _Beza_ upon the Parable of the Rich Man and _Lazarus_ doth give us this remarkable Marginal note: “Although Christ doth relate an History, notwithstanding he writeth spiritual things under Figures, which he knew were suitable to our sense. For neither are Souls endowed with Fingers and Eyes, neither do they suffer thirst, neither have they mutual conference one with another. Therefore the sum is, that faithful Souls after they be departed from their Bodies, do lead a pleasant and blessed life without the World: And that most horrible torments are prepared for the reprobates, which can no more be conceived by our minds, than the immense Glory of Heaven.” [Sidenote: _De Civitat. Dei_ _lib._ 13. _c._ 21. _p._ 404.] [Sidenote: _Ut supra_ _l._ 15. _c._ 27. _p._ 475.]